A great friend of mine, Eddie Carroll, passed away early this morning at the age of 77. Eddie was best known for his one-man show in which he impersonated (and did justice to) Jack Benny but that was only a small part of what he did. He was a writer — he and his partner Jamie Farr supplemented their acting careers writing cartoons for Hanna-Barbera, for instance. He was a cartoon voice actor, most notably speaking for Jiminy Cricket for the last few decades. He also did non-Benny acting. I was first aware of him when he was a regular on a short-lived variety show that Don Knotts had on NBC.
I later got to know him and as past blog posts here will tell you, thought the world of him, above and beyond his fine Benny simulation. I'd like to write more about him but I'm due to go direct a cartoon voice recording and Eddie, ever the professional, would have insisted I not keep actors waiting. I did though have to get this up here, if only to say what a fine gentleman he was. The last time I saw him was, sadly, at a wake for another friend. Eddie was wearing a cap to hide the effects of recent surgery which, we'd all heard, might only prolong his life a few more months…but he didn't want us to make a fuss about that so we didn't. He can't, however, stop all his friends from missing him greatly. Our condolences and much love to his wonderful wife, Carolyn. Today is their 47th anniversary.